In general, the invention relates to the fields of hydrogels, drug delivery systems, the treatment of eye disease and, in particular, posterior segment diseases.
Systemic and topical (e.g., via eye drops) administration of drugs for treatment of diseases of the posterior segment of the eye, such as macular degeneration, are often undesirable. These methods typically require higher total doses of the drug because these routes are inefficient at delivering the drug to the posterior segment. Such high doses increase the cost and may also cause side effects such as local inflammation or adverse systemic reactions. In addition, for most topical treatments, the drug is quickly washed out of the eye, limiting the effective time of treatment.
Thus, sustained-release delivery devices that would continuously administer a drug to the eye for a prolonged period of time are desired for the treatment of posterior segment diseases.